American cuisine facts for kids

American cuisine is like a giant potluck! It shows the amazing history of the United States. Many different groups of people from all over the world have added their cooking styles. This includes Native Americans, African Americans, Asians, Europeans, Pacific Islanders, and Hispanic Americans.

A lot of American food is a mix of different world cuisines. Think of Mexican-American or American Chinese food. But many local food styles have their own deep roots. Examples are Cajun, Louisiana Creole, Native American food, and Soul food.

Early Native Americans used many cooking methods. These mixed with early European ways to create what we now call American cuisine. When Europeans settled in America, they brought new ingredients, spices, and cooking styles.

Food styles kept growing in the 1800s and 1900s. More and more immigrants arrived from many different countries. This brought a rich variety of food to the whole country.

When European colonists first came to America, they raised animals for food and clothing. They cooked much like they did in Europe. The food they ate depended on where they settled. They hunted animals like deer, bear, bison, and wild turkey. Animal fats and oils were used for cooking.

History of American Food

Native American Beginnings: Food Before 1600

Many parts of today's American food have roots in Native American cooking. Native peoples lived off the land for thousands of years. Their diet often changed with the seasons.

Many tribes grew the "Three Sisters": beans, maize (corn), and squash. These were main foods. For example, in the East, Native Americans taught early settlers how to plant corn with fish to make the soil better. This is a type of companion planting.

Wild game was also a main food for almost every tribe. Deer, elk, and bison were common. Rabbits and hares were also hunted. The Cherokee in the Southern Appalachians used blowguns to hunt squirrels.

Northern tribes like the Ojibwe hunted moose. Southern tribes like the Choctaw hunted snapping turtles, possums, and young alligators. Many tribes made pemmican to preserve meat for long journeys or harsh winters.

Fish and Shellfish

What fish people ate depended on where they lived. For example, the Apache and Navajo in the Southwest usually did not eat fish. This was because of their beliefs and the dry desert climate.

But for the Lenape tribe in New Jersey, fish and shellfish were very important. They even had a "Fish Dance" to celebrate their fish harvests.

Eastern tribes ate fish like cod, winter flounder, and different kinds of herring. In the West, tribes caught sturgeon, trout, and salmon. The chinook salmon was very important to Pacific Northwest tribes.

Pacific gray whales and humpbacks were hunted by Native Americans off the Northwest coast. They used them for meat and oil. Catfish was also popular across the land.

Shellfish included shrimp, lobster, crayfish, and dungeness crabs in the Northwest. In the East, they ate shrimp, lobster, and blue crabs. Other shellfish were abalone, geoduck, surf clams, quahogs, and soft-shell clams. Oysters and mussels were eaten on both coasts.

Cooking Styles

Native Americans used many cooking methods that became part of American cuisine. Grilling meats was common. They also spit roasted food over a fire. Vegetables, especially root vegetables, were often cooked right in the ashes.

Since early Native Americans didn't have pottery for cooking over fire, they used a special method. They heated rocks in a fire, then put the hot rocks into a pot of water until it boiled. This cooked their meat or vegetables.

In the Southwest, they made adobe ovens called hornos. These were used to bake things like cornmeal bread. Other parts of America used pit ovens. These were also used to steam foods by adding hot rocks or embers. For example, New England tribes steamed fish and shellfish with seaweed or corn husks. Later, potatoes and corn were added to these pit ovens, which colonists called a clambake.

Colonial Times

When European colonists arrived in places like Virginia and Massachusetts, they tried to grow crops they knew from England. They also farmed animals for food and clothing.

Over time, they started trading with England and the West Indies. This helped them create meals similar to what they ate in Britain and Ireland. They also added local American animals and plants to their diet.

After the American Revolution, Americans wanted their own cooking style. In 1796, the first American cookbook was published. There was even a dislike for French cooking at first.

The expulsion of the Acadians from Canada brought many French-speaking people to Louisiana. They influenced Cajun food there. Some Jewish people who fled the Spanish Inquisition in the 1400s settled in Brazil and the Caribbean. Their food was changed by new ingredients like molasses, rum, sugar, vanilla, chocolate, peppers, corn, tomatoes, and turkey.

In 1654, some of these Jewish people came to New Amsterdam (now New York City). They brought their cooking with them. Early American Jewish food was very much like this Sephardic style. Dishes included stew, fish fried in olive oil, and almond puddings. The first kosher cookbook in America was published in 1871.

Common Ingredients in Colonial Times

The colonial diet changed based on the region. By the mid-1700s, local food patterns were set. New England colonies ate very similarly to how they did in England.

A big difference in New England was the seasons. In the southern colonies, they could farm almost all year. But in the northern colonies, growing seasons were short. Also, being close to the ocean gave northern colonists lots of fresh fish.

Wheat, used for bread in England, was hard to grow. So, they used cornmeal instead. The Johnnycake was a common cornmeal bread.

Hunting was important for protein. Colonists hunted deer, bear, buffalo, and wild turkey. Larger parts of animals were roasted. Smaller parts went into soups, stews, and pies. They also ate mutton from sheep.

Fats and Oils

Fats and oils from animals were used for cooking. Many homes had bear oil for cooking. Solid bear fat was like shortening. Rendered pork fat was the most popular cooking oil, especially from cooking bacon. Pork fat was used more in the South because the Spanish brought pigs there earlier. Butter was also used but was rare before the American Revolution.

Drinks

Before the American Revolution, New Englanders drank a lot of rum and beer. Rum was popular because molasses, its main ingredient, was easy to get from the West Indies. Inland, people drank whiskey because they had corn and rye to make it. Until the Revolution, many thought whiskey was a rough drink. They also imported wine and brandy.

Southern Food Differences

The southern colonies had a more varied diet because of their longer growing season. The uplands ate wild game, cabbage, string beans, corn, squashes, and white potatoes. They had pork and biscuits for breakfast.

The lowlands of Louisiana had a diet influenced by French, Spanish, German, Native American, African, and Caribbean cultures. Rice was a big part of the diet. They also ate a lot of seafood and used many peppers.

After the Colonies

During the 1700s and 1800s, Americans created many new foods. Some, like Rocky Mountain oysters, stayed local. Others, like peanut butter, spread across the nation. Some became popular worldwide, such as popcorn, cola, fried chicken, cornbread, and brownies.

1800s American Farmhouse Food

In the 1800s, American farms mostly grew their own food. But they bought things like salt, coffee, sugar, and baking soda from the general store. If they didn't grow wheat, they bought flour. Canned salmon was a treat. Farmers paid for store items with eggs or butter.

Women did much of the food preparation. They strained milk, churned butter, made molasses from sorghum, and ground corn into cornmeal. Fresh apples were pressed into cider. Fruits and vegetables were preserved by canning, drying, or pickling.

A writer from Michigan described October as cider season, when apple butter was made. Farmhouse meals included fried chicken, green beans, boiled corn, chicken and dumplings, fried ham, and coleslaw. Pon haus, similar to scrapple, was a breakfast dish among German settlers in Indiana. It was made from pork scraps and corn meal, molded, and fried.

1900s Food

Pork was a main food in the rural South and Midwest. Lard was used for baking, frying, and seasoning. Cast iron cookware was seasoned with pork fat. Fried salt pork with gravy was a rich dish. In the Appalachian region, "killed lettuce" was made with wild greens and hot bacon grease.

Pie was eaten often, sometimes three times a day. Flavors changed with the seasons: rhubarb and strawberry in spring, peach, cherry, and blueberry in summer, and apple in fall.

In cities, people ate bread, dairy, and canned goods. Dinner might be tomato bisque from a can. Many bought food from delicatessens instead of cooking in small kitchens.

German delis sold cold cuts, potato salads, and prepared foods. Jewish immigrants from Germany added corned beef and pastrami. Ice cream sodas were popular at soda fountains.

Milk became more available year-round due to grain-feeding cattle and new inventions like milking machines and refrigeration. Milk became a staple food and important ingredient in American cooking, used in things like milkshakes.

Major railroads offered fancy meals in their dining cars. Fast-food restaurants like White Castle (1916) and McDonald's (1948) started to appear and spread with the growth of highways.

In the early 1900s, people worried about the safety of processed foods. A chemist named Harvey Washington Wiley worked to test food additives. His work helped create the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906, which led to the FDA.

During World War I, Americans were taught about food conservation. After the wars, low-cost, processed foods became common. Companies developed new products that needed little preparation, like TV dinners. Convenience foods like macaroni & cheese made cooking easier.

Highly processed foods in the mid-1900s included colorful Jell-O and sugary breakfast cereals. New packaging like spray cheese and drink pouches also appeared. The microwave oven led to new industrial food products.

By the late 1900s, the US food system relied heavily on subsidized maize (corn) production. This corn was used for livestock feed and ingredients like high-fructose corn syrup.

New technologies aimed to lower costs and improve food quality. These included food irradiation and genetically modified organisms. Some people worried about these changes and suggested alternatives like organic produce and veganism/vegetarianism.

Different Cultures, New Flavors

One special thing about American cooking is how it mixes different cultures. For example, spaghetti is Italian, and hot dogs are German. A popular meal is spaghetti with hot dog slices! Since the 1960s, Asian cooking has greatly influenced American food.

Some dishes that seem American actually started in other countries. But American cooks changed them so much that they are now seen as American. Hot dogs and hamburgers are based on German dishes. Pizza comes from Italy, but American styles like Chicago-style deep dish or New York thin crust are unique.

Some foods Americans think are foreign were actually invented in America. For example, General Tso's chicken was created by Chinese chefs in New York in the 1970s. The fortune cookie was invented in California in the early 1900s.

In the 1970s, celebrity chefs like Julia Child became popular. By the 2000s, Americans started eating more meat. The 2015–2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans suggested that men and teenage boys eat more vegetables.

New American Cuisine

In the 1980s, fancy restaurants started mixing American cooking styles with foreign elements. This was called New American cuisine. It combines traditional American techniques with flavors from other cultures. Sometimes it even adds molecular gastronomy (using science to create new food textures and flavors).

Regional Foods

The food in the United States is very different from one region to another. This is because the country is so large and has many different landscapes and histories.

Northeast

New England

New England is in the Northeastern U.S. It includes Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. Its biggest city is Boston.

Native American cooking became part of the early colonists' food. Tribes like the Nipmuck and Wampanoag used to clear land to attract animals and grow plants like black raspberries, blueberries, and cranberries. They also collected nuts like shagbark hickory and fruits like wild grapes and black cherries. These foods ended up in colonial kitchens.

New England cooking started out practical and simple. Most early colonists came from England. They used one-pot cooking, which led to dishes like succotash, chowder, and baked beans.

Common starches are potatoes and cornmeal. Native breads include Anadama bread, johnnycakes, and New England brown bread. Spices are usually simple, like nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves for desserts. For savory foods, they use thyme, black pepper, and sage. Common toppings are maple syrup, molasses, and cranberry sauce.

Apples have been a main food in New England since the 1640s. Many old types of apples are found here. Historically, New England made a lot of hard cider. Today, cider is making a comeback.

Cranberries are another native fruit, often picked in flooded bogs in autumn. They are juiced or dried. Winter squashes like pumpkin and butternut squash are staples because they last long. Blueberries are a common summer treat, used in muffins and pies.

Favorite desserts include hasty pudding, blueberry pie, whoopie pies, Boston cream pie, and the chocolate chip cookie, invented in Massachusetts in the 1930s.

New England is known for its seafood. Favorite fish include cod, salmon, haddock, and striped bass. These are fried, grilled, or smoked. Clam cakes are a Rhode Island specialty.

Meat is present but less common. Dishes like Yankee pot roast and New England boiled dinner are popular. Roasting whole turkeys started here for big meals. Today, turkey is used in soups and sandwiches.

Lamb is a popular roasted or grilled meat. Dairy farming is strong, and homemade ice cream is a summer favorite. Vermont is known for its farmhouse cheeses, especially cheddar.

Crabs like peekytoe crab and Jonah crab are used for bisques and crabcakes. Squid is often fried as calamari. Lobster is native to the region and eaten in many ways, like boiled or in a lobster roll.

Shellfish like little neck clams, sea scallops, blue mussels, and oysters are part of the diet. The clambake is a New England tradition, where fish, shellfish, and vegetables are steamed in a pit.

Delaware Valley and Mid-Atlantic

The Mid-Atlantic states include New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and Northern Maryland. New York City, founded in 1625 by the Dutch, is a major cultural center.

The food here is very mixed because it's been a gateway for immigrants. Dutch, Italian, German, Irish, British, and Jewish foods have all left their mark. Cities like New York and Philadelphia spread food trends across the U.S.

New York City is famous for its diverse restaurants. Many fancy dishes like Lobster Newberg, waldorf salad, and eggs benedict were created in New York's expensive restaurants. Modern cream cheese was developed in 1872.

New York is also known for inventing many cocktails, like the Manhattan and Cosmopolitan. New York State is a big wine producer, and Pennsylvania is known for rye whiskey.

New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore have always welcomed immigrants. This mix of people is clear in many local dishes that have become American.

The Dutch settlers of New York brought recipes like apple pie with a crumb topping and coleslaw. The doughnut started as a Dutch pastry called olykoek.

Crab cakes were once an English dish but became a Baltimore specialty. Fishing for blue crab is a favorite summer activity in Maryland, New Jersey, and Delaware.

Other old mainstays include oysters from Cape May and Long Island. Philadelphia Pepper Pot, a tripe stew, is a classic Pennsylvania dish. In winter, New York pushcarts sell roasted chestnuts. Early Christmas cookies like gingerbread and sugar cookies were introduced by Germans and Dutch.

Scrapple was a savory pudding made by early Pennsylvania Germans to preserve pork scraps. The Philadelphia soft pretzel came from Germany and became a famous city bread.

After the 1820s, many Irish immigrants arrived. They faced challenges but brought their pub culture and founded early saloons. They also introduced Halloween as a major festival in America. This holiday, with its costumes, trick-or-treating, and foods like caramel apples and pumpkin pie, spread nationwide.

Italian immigrants from 1880 to 1960 brought dishes like spaghetti with meatballs, New York-style pizza, and baked ziti. They often added more meat to dishes in America as a sign of new wealth.

New York-style hot dogs came from German immigrants. Jewish immigrants added the kosher beef version. Today, the New York-style hot dog with sauerkraut and mustard is a local favorite. Hot dogs are a common street food and a must-have at baseball games. Nathan's Famous in Coney Island is famous for its hot dog eating contest.

Italian ice started as a sweeter version of Sicilian granita. Its Hispanic cousin, piragua, is a shaved-ice treat brought by Puerto Ricans.

Taylor Ham (also called pork roll) is a New Jersey meat delicacy. It's often served for breakfast with eggs and cheese on a kaiser roll.

Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe brought many deli foods. They introduced American-style pickles, bagels, bialys, Challah bread, and pastrami. New York-style cheesecake has lots of cream and eggs because animal rennet is not kosher.

Many Jewish dishes became common in diners, like whitefish salad and matzoh ball soup. Diners are very common in this region and often open 24 hours.

Other regional dishes include beef on weck, Manhattan clam chowder, the club sandwich, Buffalo wings, Philadelphia cheesesteak, and the black and white cookie. The egg cream is a fizzy fountain drink.

Midwest

Midwestern food is a mix of many styles, from Kansas City-style barbecue to the Chicago-style hot dog. Many classic dishes are simple and hearty.

This region was mostly settled after the American Civil War. It was home to nomadic tribes like the Sioux and Cheyenne. These tribes ate the Three Sisters and hunted bison and elk. Today, bison are raised for meat and made into burgers and steaks.

The Midwest has very cold, windy winters. Ice fishing for pike and walleye is popular. In Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan, these fish are often part of a local fish fry.

Large cities like Detroit, Cleveland, and Chicago are important. Chicago is the third-largest city in the country.

The Midwest raises many turkeys, chickens, and geese. Favorite fruits include native plants like the pawpaw and American persimmons. Pawpaws are made into preserves and cakes. Persimmons are used in persimmon pudding.

Wild rice is a local favorite, often used in Thanksgiving stuffing. Cold-weather fruits like apples are important. Michigan grows cherries, and Wisconsin grows many cranberries.

German, Scandinavian, and Slavic cultures strongly influenced the northern Midwest. Many immigrants came in the 1800s for jobs in meatpacking. Bratwurst is common at tailgate parties for sports teams, often served with sauerkraut.

Kielbasa is important in Chicago. Polish immigrants brought kielbasa, cabbage rolls, and pierogis. Today, kielbasa is served on a roll with mustard or as a Maxwell Street Polish sandwich. In Cleveland, the Polish boy sandwich has french fries and barbecue sauce.

In Cincinnati, Cincinnati chili is popular. It has spaghetti, chili with Mediterranean spices, and cheddar cheese.

The church potluck is a tradition in the Midwest. The hotdish, a type of casserole, is common, often topped with potatoes. Glorified rice (rice pudding with pineapple and cherries) and booyah (a thick stew) are also popular. Lefse, a Scandinavian flatbread, is often on the table. Venison is a popular meat. Tiger meat, similar to steak tartare, is common in Wisconsin, Minnesota, and the Dakotas.

Desserts include dessert bars and brownies, which were created in Chicago in 1898.

Further South, barbecue has its own styles in Kansas City and St. Louis. These cities were important railroad hubs.

St. Louis-style barbecue uses a sticky sweet barbecue sauce. It includes pork steaks, crispy snoots (fried pig snout), and pork spare ribs. Dessert is often gooey butter cake.

Kansas City-style barbecue uses many kinds of meat: turkey, mutton, pork, and beef. Its sauce has molasses and is more tart. Meat is smoked slowly over hickory wood. Burnt ends are a specialty.

Southern United States

The American South includes states like Maryland, Virginia, and Texas. Major cities are New Orleans, Miami, Atlanta, and Houston. This region has some of the oldest food traditions in the country, some almost 400 years old.

Native American influences are still seen in the use of cornmeal and hunting wild game like wild turkey and deer. Hunters in North Carolina even seek tundra swan for Christmas dinner. Native Americans also ate turtles and catfish. Catfish are often breaded and fried.

Native American tribes like the Cherokee grew plants like pawpaw, maypop, and different squashes. They also used spicebush and sassafras as spices.

Corn is still found in Southern dishes like grits, hoecakes, and cornbread. Nuts like hickory and pecan are common in desserts like pecan pie. Peaches are a main crop, and peach cobbler is a signature dessert.

Early Southern Food

European influence began after Jamestown was settled in 1607. German settlers invented apple butter. British and Scottish settlers brought their cooking styles. They planted orchards of peaches, plums, and apples.

Irish and Scottish settlers created strong liquors like moonshine from potatoes or barley. Later, they made whiskey from corn mash, giving birth to American whiskey and Kentucky bourbon.

English recipes like trifle became tipsy cakes, using whiskey instead of sherry. The recipe for pound cake also came from England.

Common Southern Foods

Pork is very popular in Southern barbecue and other dishes. For most Southerners in the past, corn and pork were main foods. Country sausage is used in biscuits and gravy. Country ham is often served for breakfast.

The fluffy Southern biscuit is made with baking soda and buttermilk. For breakfast, biscuits often go with country ham, grits, and scrambled eggs.

Southern Desserts

Southern Desserts are usually rich and meant to impress guests. They include Lane cake, sweet potato pie, peach cobbler, pecan pie, hummingbird cake, coconut cake, and caramel cake. Nuts like pecan and hickory are often used as toppings or fillings.

Cajun and Creole Food of Louisiana

In Louisiana, cooking styles are similar to old French country cooking. This is especially true for Cajun cuisine. Cajun French is related to dialects spoken in Canada and Haiti.

Cajun food focuses on what's available locally. Boudin is a spicy sausage found only here. Chaudin is a dish similar to Scottish haggis, with pork and spices sewn into a pig's stomach.

Crayfish are a main food in Cajun cooking, found in the bayous. Blue crabs, shrimp, corn on the cob, and red potatoes are basic ingredients for a Louisiana crawfish boil.

New Orleans is the center of Creole culture. Louisiana Creole cuisine mixes French, Spanish, Italian, German, African, Caribbean, and Native American cooking. This creates rich dishes like oysters bienville and the muffaletta sandwich.

Creole cooking uses different ingredients than original European recipes. For example, profiteroles often use ice cream instead of custard. Pralines use pecans, not almonds. Bananas foster came about because New Orleans was a key port for bananas.

Gumbos are thickened with okra or sassafrass tree leaves. Andouille sausage here is different from French andouille. Other local ingredients include rice and sugarcane.

Ground cayenne pepper is a key spice. The meat of the American alligator is also used. The maypop plant is a favorite summer fruit.

African American Influences

West African influences came with slaves from Ghana, Benin, and other parts of Africa. Their mark on Southern food is very strong. Crops like okra, sorghum, sesame seeds, and eggplant were brought from West Africa. They also brought rice to the Carolinas, which became a main grain in dishes like Hoppin John.

Slaves often got leftover meat. So, many recipes used pig's ears and fatbacks. They also used slow cooking methods like braising, smoking, and pit roasting to tenderize tough cuts of meat. Peanut soup is an old recipe brought to Virginia by Africans.

Florida Food

Florida has its own unique cooking style, especially south of Tampa. Spain controlled Florida until the early 1800s. Florida still has strong ties with the Caribbean Sea, including Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Jamaica.

Many people in South Florida speak Caribbean Spanish and Haitian Creole. Each Caribbean culture influences Florida's cooking methods and spices. This mixes with Seminole tribe traditions and English settlers' food. So, Florida cooking has a more tropical flavor.

Allspice and ginger are used in spice mixes for summer barbecues. Coconuts are grown around Miami. Bananas come in many varieties. Mangoes are grown in Southern Florida. Sweetsop and soursop are popular around Miami.

Citrus fruits are a major crop in Florida, like oranges, grapefruits, and tangerines. Tomatoes, bell peppers, habanero peppers, and figs are also grown.

Local favorite ingredients include blue crab, conch, Florida stone crab, and dorado. Dairy is less common due to the warm weather.

Traditional key lime pie from the Florida Keys is made with condensed milk. This was because milk would spoil before refrigeration. Pork in Florida is often roasted like in Puerto Rico and Cuba. Orange blossom honey is a state specialty. Caribbean lobster is a favorite special meal.

Other Small Game

Ptarmigan, grouse, ducks, and other game birds are eaten in the U.S. In Arkansas, beaver tail stew is consumed. Squirrel, raccoon, possum, bear, and rabbit are also eaten.

Food in the West

Western American cooking is influenced by Native American and Hispanic cultures, plus later settlers. Texas, for example, has German influence in its barbecue sausages. The Northwest (Oregon, Washington, Northern California) relies on local seafood.

In New Mexico, Colorado, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, West Texas, and Southern California, Mexican flavors are very common.

Northwest

The Pacific Northwest includes Alaska, Washington, and Oregon. A core food is Pacific salmon, often smoked or grilled on cedar planks. In Alaska, wild game like ptarmigan and moose meat are common.

Fresh fish like steelhead trout and Pacific halibut are popular. The region also has many fresh berries and vegetables. Cameo apples from Washington are famous. Cherries from Oregon, blackberries, and marionberries are used in pies. Hazelnuts are used in baking.

This region also has many famous wineries.

There's a wide variety of shellfish. Geoducks are giant clams. Gaper clams are grilled or steamed. Native California abalone is a traditional food, used in soups and noodle dishes. Olympia oysters and Kumamoto oysters are served on the half shell. California mussels are a delicacy.

Crabs are popular, including Alaskan king crab and Dungeness crab. Alaskan king crab is often steamed. Native crabs are used in dishes like the California roll and cioppino (a fisherman's stew).

Main grains are wheat, and the region is known for sourdough bread. Cheeses include Humboldt Fog and Cougar Gold.

Southwest and Southern California

This large region includes Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, Southern California, and West Texas. It has a strong Hispanic influence.

For centuries, parts of this region were part of the Spanish Empire. Today, it has many Native Americans, Hispanos, and immigrants from Mexico and Latin America. California, New Mexico, and Texas have unique food styles. Spanish is commonly spoken.

Except for Southern California, beef is the main meat. This is where cowboys lived and cattle ranchers still work. High-quality beef has been here for over 200 years. Cuts like ribs, brisket, and sirloin are common.

Spanish settlers brought the first cattle. Later, cowboys learned from their ways of managing animals.

Settlers also learned cooking methods from local tribes. For example, parts of Arizona and New Mexico still use the horno, an outdoor wood-fired oven, for roasting meat and baking bread.

Elk meat is popular. Near the Mexican border, rattlesnake is sometimes stewed.

Drinks tend to be light, like tequila. In Utah, where many Mormons live, alcohol is less common but still available.

Early agriculture included peaches and oranges. Today, the Moro blood orange is popular in Arizona, Texas, and New Mexico. Pine nuts are a regional specialty. Westerners learned to eat cactus fruit from Native Americans. In California, Spanish missionaries brought the mission fig.

Food in this region uses key ingredients: tomatoes, onions, black beans, pinto beans, rice, bell peppers, chile peppers, and cheese like Monterey Jack. Chile peppers are very important, especially the unique New Mexico chile. In New Mexico, chile is eaten on many foods, even fast food burgers.

Cornbread is eaten, but cooked in a cast-iron skillet. Outdoor cooking is popular, using a cast-iron Dutch oven over coals.

Tortillas are made traditionally and are important for spicy breakfast burritos and regular burritos. They are also used for quesadillas and steak fajitas. Unlike Mexico, tortillas here might have vegetables like spinach.

Food here uses strong spices like chili verde sauce, hot sauce, chili powder, cayenne pepper, and cumin. Dishes like chili con carne and cowboy beans are very spicy. Southern California adds spices like five spice powder and lemongrass due to Asian influences.

In Texas, barbecue is often beef brisket or ribs, seasoned with a spice rub and cooked over mesquite coals. Some smoke meat over pecan, apple, and oak wood.

Native American additions include Navajo frybread and roasted corn on the cob. Tortilla chips are a common snack, served with salsa. Nachos are a Tex-Mex dish with chips, ground beef, cheese, guacamole, and salsa.

Tequila is a key alcohol, used in cocktails and cooking.

Southern California is focused on the coast and has many immigrants from Asia and Baja California. Los Angeles is its capital. Drive-through fast food was invented here, as was the gourmet burger movement. Chains like In-N-Out Burger are famous.

Smoothies are a common breakfast item. Agua fresca is a popular cold drink.

Southern California's warm weather allows for crops like pistachios, kiwifruit, avocadoes, strawberries, and tomatoes. Olive oil is a main cooking oil. Olives, Valencia oranges, and Meyer lemons are signature crops.

Asian crops like Soybeans, bok choy, and mandarin oranges are common additions to salads. Vegetables and herbs like oregano, basil, and broccoli are widely available.

Salads like Cobb salad and Chinese chicken salad are hearty. Dressings like green goddess and ranch are staples.

California-style pizza has many different toppings, often with vegetables. Peanut noodles are also popular.

Fresh fish and shellfish can be expensive. The Pismo clam festival celebrates a large local clam. Fishing for pacific octopus and Humboldt squid is common. Lingcod is a prized regional fish. The California spiny lobster is a delicacy.

Pacific and Hawaiian Cuisine

Hawaii is one of the most culturally diverse U.S. states. Its food, Hawaiian cuisine, mixes elements from Asian and Pacific cultures, native Hawaiian traditions, and American mainland additions.

American influence brought cattle, goats, and sheep, introducing cheese and butter. Major Asian influences are from Japan, Korea, Vietnam, China, Samoa, and the Philippines. From Japan came the idea of raw fish with rice, leading to the popular dish called poke.

From Korea, immigrants brought spicy garlic marinades and kimchi. From China, char siu baau became manapua (steamed pork buns). Filipinos brought vinegar and lumpia. Samoans brought the open pit fire umu. Vietnamese introduced lemongrass and fish sauce.

Each East Asian culture brought different kinds of noodles, like udon, ramen, and pho. These are common lunchtime meals.

Much of this food mixes into traditions like the lu'au, a big feast. Historically, men and women ate separately due to religious beliefs. After this system broke down, new foods from plantation laborers were added.

Notable Hawaiian foods include seared ahi tuna, opakapaka (snapper) with passionfruit, Hawaiian lamb and beef, and the Hawaiian plate lunch. Seafood is caught fresh. Delicacies include Hawaiian spiny lobster and Kona crab.

Hawaiian cuisine uses a variety of local produce like tomatoes, sweet Maui onions, taro, and macadamia nuts. Tropical fruits are important for flavoring cocktails and desserts, including local bananas, sweetsop, mangoes, lychee, coconuts, papayas, and lilikoi (passionfruit). Pineapples have been an island staple since the 1800s.

Common Regional Dishes

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  Chicken, pork and corn cooking in a barbecue smoker

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  New York–style pizza served at a pizzeria in New York

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  Chicago-style deep-dish pizza from the original Giordano's location

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  A Philly cheesesteak from Pat’s King of Steaks in Philadelphia

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  Key lime pie is from Key West, Florida

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  Memphis-style barbecue

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  California-style pizza

Food from Different Cultures

By World War I, foods like Italian and Mexican were already in the U.S. Cookbooks from the 1930s had recipes for things like chicken chop suey and Italian meatballs. But many recipes were changed to fit American tastes.

Older cookbooks from the 1800s show influences from Indian, Italian, Chinese, Jewish, Russian, and Greek foods. As more immigrants arrived, the demand for these foods grew.

In the 1980s, famous chefs started to celebrate America's own ethnic foods. Chef Paul Prudhomme wrote about the history of Creole and Cajun cooking. Other chefs like Norman Van Aken explored Floridian food mixed with global elements. California chefs like Alice Waters and Wolfgang Puck also embraced new globalized cuisine, focusing on fresh, local ingredients.

Puck believed that mixing ethnic foods was a major breakthrough. He said, "This country is, after all, a huge melting pot. Why should its cooking not illustrate the American transformation of diversity into unity?"

Early Cultural Influences

American food has always been shaped by different cultures. Early influences came from:

• British-Americans: Their cooking formed the base of New England and other colonial foods.
• Spanish Americans: They brought early modern Spanish cuisine and Basque cuisine.
• German-Americans: Especially the Pennsylvania Dutch, who had their own unique food traditions.
• French Americans: Including the Acadians and Cajuns, who influenced Cajun cuisine.
• Louisiana Creole people: Their food mixed French, Spanish, African, and Native American styles.
• Native Americans: Their cooking methods and ingredients were very important.
• African Americans: They created Soul food and introduced many crops and cooking techniques.
• Puerto Rican cuisine
• Mexican Americans: Their food, like Mexican-American cuisine and Tex-Mex, became very popular.
• New Mexican cuisine: From New Mexico, tied to the Pueblos and Hispanos of New Mexico.

Later Cultural Influences

Later waves of immigrants also had a big impact on American food. These groups include:

• Arab Americans (especially Lebanese)
• Chinese Americans (leading to American Chinese cuisine)
• Cuban Americans
• Dominican Americans
• Ethiopian Americans
• German Americans
• Greek Americans
• Haitian Americans
• Hungarian Americans
• Indian Americans
• Irish Americans
• Italian Americans (leading to Italian-American cuisine)
• Japanese Americans (influencing Hawaiian cuisine)
• Jewish Americans (especially in New York City)
• Korean Americans
• Lithuanian Americans
• Nicaraguan Americans
• Pakistani Americans
• Polish Americans
• Polynesian Americans
• Portuguese Americans
• Romanian Americans
• Russian Americans
• Salvadoran Americans
• Scottish Americans
• Thai Americans
• Turkish Americans
• Vietnamese Americans
• West Indian Americans

Today, Italian, Mexican, and Chinese (Cantonese) foods are very common in America. Most people have tried them, and many eat them often. These foods have become so much a part of American culture that people don't always worry about how "authentic" they are.

Foods like hot dogs, hamburgers, fried chicken, pizza, tacos, and General Tso's chicken are now common across the U.S.

Famous American Chefs

American chefs have been important in the food world and in popular culture. Charles Ranhofer of Delmonico's Restaurant in New York was a famous chef in the 1800s. American cooking has spread worldwide through restaurant chains like McDonald's.

Early TV chefs like Julia Child focused on European cooking. But in the 1970s and 1980s, chefs like James Beard started focusing on American cooking styles, especially those from different ethnic groups.

Some famous American chefs include Thomas Keller, Wolfgang Puck, Alice Waters, and Paul Prudhomme. There are also many celebrity chefs like Mario Batali, Alton Brown, Emeril Lagasse, and Bobby Flay.

Local chefs are also becoming famous, like Peter Merriman (Hawaii Regional Cuisine) and Rick Bayless (Mexican cuisine).

Images for kids

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  The hamburger is considered the national dish of the United States.

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  Chocolate chip cookies are a popular American cookie.

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  Red velvet cake

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  Cioppino

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  Fortune cookies were invented in the United States and are of Japanese origin but are popular in American Chinese cuisine.

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  Chinese takeout

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  Angel food cake

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  Chicago-style hot dog

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  Boston cream pie

See also

In Spanish: Gastronomía de Estados Unidos para niños